Twisted Emotions
by UrbanWitch
Summary: This story takes place beginning the day after the road trip in "Three for the Road". Its told from Lacey's POV and explores her inner monologue based on the sneak peeks for Episode 7 "We Need to Talk About Danny." It features some Dacey, Jo/Lacey friendship, and a little bit of Archie.
1. Chapter 1

As Lacey drove to school on Wednesday morning, her hair in a messy ponytail, she yawned sleepily. She, Danny and Jo had gotten home pretty late the night before and she hadn't slept well because there were all sorts of questions whirling in her head. How was it possible that Danny's father had been renting that apartment in Connecticut until just a few weeks ago? If he had wanted to stay incognito, why did he allow his real name to be listed clear as day: "Vikram Desai"? Did he have amnesia and forget he had a whole family? What was his connection to Regina? It was all very perplexing and nothing seemed to be adding up.

In algebra, the only class she shared with Jo, she purposely changed her seat to sit next to her. When Mr. Yates assigned some linear equation practice questions, she leaned over and said "Jo, we should talk. Can you meet me at the clubhouse this evening?" Jo didn't say anything but nodded her head. She looked as exhausted as Lacey felt.

Lacey felt like she was sleep-walking through her day and didn't even enjoy her student council meeting after school. Usually, she relished the opportunity to work with her fellow board members to create positive change. They were supposed to be planning a fundraiser for building an herb and vegetable garden on school grounds that could then be harvested and used for healthier school lunches. But she just wasn't into it. She let others dominate the conversation and simply seconded the decision to have a bake sale. It was only later that she realized it was a bit ironic to be selling fatty sugary treats to raise money for an organic vegetable garden.

After her meeting was over, Lacey wandered over to the soccer field where she was supposed to meet Archie after his practice. She watched him walk towards her, deep in conversation with Scott. He looked like a golden haired Adonis with magnetic eyes you could get lost in. But somehow she wasn't excited to see him. She was just going through the "good girlfriend" motions. Probably because she was just so very tired. "You hungry?" she asked as he came up to her.

"Hungry for those sexy lips" he replied, leaning towards her for a kiss. His grey sweatshirt had a large damp patch down the front.

"Come on Arch, you're all sweaty" said Lacey, trying to back away from her boyfriend.

'I'm sorry; I didn't realize I disgusted you so much" Archie flashed back, clearly a little hurt.

Before Lacey could protest , Danny Desai had walked up to them and interrupted. "Hi Lacey" he grinned "You come all the way out here to watch me practice?"

Archie immediately turned and snarled "Keep walking freak."

"I'm sorry" said Danny. "I was just being polite to your girlfriend. I didn't mean to upset you."

"Such BS" flared Archie. "You live to upset me." He venomously added "Psycho".

Something in Lacey snapped. Without thinking, she turned to her boyfriend and stated "Archie stop it." She glanced quickly at Danny before turning back to Archie. "Just, its enough. Enough with the psycho and the freak. Its all exhausting and kind of awful."

She could tell Archie was taken aback. "I'm going to wash off" he muttered "because I'm all so sweaty." he turned and stalked off towards the gym.

Lacey watched him go. She knew that Archie would be pissed. She knew that they would argue about it later. She shouldn't have embarrassed him in front of someone else. That was always an issue for him. He never liked to lose face. And what was Danny doing coming up to her while she was talking to Archie anyway? He had kind of instigated the whole thing.

She turned and looked at Danny. "Thank you for saying that" he said, gazing at her with intensity. Gone was the smirk and the slight edge of teasing he had used on Archie. In its place appeared to be complete sincerity. He looked genuinely touched that she had taken his side.

Lacey knew that what Archie was doing with his malicious name-calling was wrong. But didn't she owe loyalty to her boyfriend? And Danny should have known better than to try talking to her with Archie around; the two of them were pretty much enemies. What did Danny think would happen?

"Yeah, I'll see you later" she answered, and left. She was frustrated with them both and didn't feel like talking to Danny OR grabbing a bite with Archie. At this point the only thing that sounded good was a nap snuggled up under her down comforter in her bedroom. Unfortunately, she had told Jo to meet her at the clubhouse before dinner so she headed there instead.


	2. Chapter 2

Lacey parted the strands of netting that hung over the partially obscured doorway and peered into the fort. Jo was there already, sitting in the corner, her blonde head bent over a book. She had on her usual mustard colored cardigan over jeans. Lacey mildly wondered if they ever became real friends again if Jo would let her give her a makeover. "Hi Jo" she called out as she walked all the way in. "I didn't expect you here yet since I'm early."

"I would have come here anyway even if I wasn't meeting you" Jo averted her eyes. "I come here a lot actually."

"Well, its nice that you've kept up the place. Thank you for that. Both Danny and I owe you."

'No big deal" Jo shrugged.

"What are you reading?" Lacey asked, pointing to Jo's book.

"Its called 'Haunting Violet'" Jo responded, showing her the book cover. "Its about a girl in London in the 1800's who sees ghosts."

"Hey, do you remember when we used to be all into those Lemony Snicket books? We would take turns reading them."

"Yeah, Danny got us into them" smiled Jo.

"We would always try to solve the mystery but there were never enough clues to really figure it out."

"And then Danny would rewrite the ending!"

They both laughed at the memory, but they had stopped speaking and the room got quiet.

"I guess you want to talk about the apartment?" Jo interrupted the silence. "I think we should just tell Danny we saw his father's name on the tenant directory."

"I'm not sure if we should do that yet" countered Lacey. "I'm afraid it might get Danny's hopes up if he thinks his father could be alive."

"But isn't it good to have hope?" Jo shot back.

"Not false hope" Lacey said. "What if we find out there's another reason his name was in that directory?"

"Like there just happens to be another Vikram Desai who just happens to be sending mail to Regina?" scoffed Jo.

"I mean maybe it's a place he rented out years ago and his name was still on the register?" posed Lacey.

"Well, then we'll all find out together!" Jo exclaimed.

"But what if it really s Danny's father and it turns out he did do something to Regina?"

"Then Danny's name will be cleared!" Jo had always seen things in black and white, back when they were kids, and that hadn't changed.

Lacey said "But his dad's reputation will be ruined and Danny will be devastated." She shook her head, knowing it would take a while before she and Jo saw eye to eye about this.

"You know, there's just so much about Danny we don't know" Jo mused. "Especially what exactly happened 5 years ago and why he did it. He has so many secrets. Maybe we can keep this one for now.'

Lacey smiled, relieved that Jo had come around. Maybe the two of them could do some investigations on their own. She felt a heavy sense of responsibility to do right by both Regina and Danny. But she also had a desperately growing hunger for the truth.

"Hey girls, lucky me, you're both here!" a voice called out. Lacey and Jo turned around to see Danny entering the clubhouse. His dark eyes twinkled and his smile quirked in his trademark uneven (twisted?) grin.

Lacey felt herself get warm and her pulse quicken. She quickly grabbed her backpack and stood up, avoiding eye contact with Danny. "I have to go… see you guys later" she mumbled as she dashed out of the clubhouse which had felt really crowded with all three of them in there.

That night, Lacey tossed and turned again, in a fitful sleep. She knew she had to find out what had really happened that fateful day when Danny Desai walked over to the swing set with a yellow jump rope clutched in his hand. She clearly remembered it was yellow even though Jo remembered red. The only way she could regain a sense of trust in him and begin mending their friendship, was to get to the truth. Even if that truth was her worst nightmare.


	3. Chapter 3

Lacey woke up Thursday morning determined to confront Danny. it was all she could think about - getting his story so she could know once and for all what happened. So she could breathe again. She knew it wouldn't be easy to ask him about that day and she was nervous. She texted Danny during homeroom, asking him to meet her outside the school library at lunchtime. She thought about trying to talk to him in a more private area but something about meeting with him alone, away from people, made her palms start sweating. As it was, standing there outside the library, dressed in a brick-colored miniskirt and boots, she felt hot even though it was crisp cool autumn day

She steeled herself as the last of the lingering students went inside for lunch and she saw Danny walk out. She took a step towards him, mot sure how to begin.

"Last time you texted me for a secret meeting, things got a little intense" he said with a grin. Lacey immediately regretted letting him talk first and already try to derail the conversation. Why did he have to keep bringing that up? That kiss was a mistake. A tremendous mistake. Lacey had no idea what primal part of her brain was insane enough to kiss Danny Desai in the dark of night after fall fest the previous week. She knew right away it was wrong, and she had Archie, and she had no idea still what sort of evil deeds Danny was capable of. Yet… and yet, she kissed him a second time when he pulled her back, and as she responded she felt herself silently observing the situation like it was someone else, not her, locking lips with a possible serial killer. A really hot possible serial killer. Stop that Lacey, she told herself.

"Danny" she began. "We need to talk."

"Yeah, I agree" he replied.

Lacey realized he meant to talk about that kiss. No way, no how.

She shook her head "Not about that. Its about 5 years ago." She nervously adjusted her grip on her bookbag.

"The 2008 election of Barack Obama? It was historic, Lace, but what else is left to say?' he quipped.

Lacey was not going to let him get away with deflecting her question with humor. "You know what I mean" she said, looking him in the eye. "I want to discuss that day, what happened with Terra."

"Now? Right here?" Danny, asked looking around, an edge to his voice. His body language had shifted subtly. "Right here at school? Why now?" his tone was harsher.

"Why not now?" questioned Lacey.

"God Lacey, I can't take all these mixed signals. You stand up for me to Archie, and then you avoid me. You kiss me and then you say you can't do it again. You text me for some secret meeting and then you ask me weird questions about my aunt?" His eyes were dark, glittering. He was gazing at her so intently she was afraid to look away.

Oh god, oh god oh god, don't go there - Lacey thought. Its not fair of him to bring this up. She defended him to Archie because it was the right thing to do. She avoids him because its really hard to be around him, both for her social status (how would it look?) and truth be told, she was a little scared to be around him. In the back of her mind she knew that it was a comingling of justifiable fear and an element of forbidden desire (the kiss… butterflies… longing… passion… deep within). But it was a survival tactic for her to refuse to allow such a thought to manifest from its jumble of inner musings to actual words (words that might tell her she that she was perhaps secretly attracted to this dark haired, dark-souled boy).

All she could think to fire back was "Its not a weird question." It was an unexpected question certainly - in the middle of the afternoon, standing outside the school library. And he was probably right - not really the place for it. But not weird. It was legitimate. She legitimately had the right to know what happened. And why. And how could he? And how could she? Ever trust him again?

"Lacey, that kiss" began Danny, ignoring her. "Its all I think about. All day. Every day." His face was tense. And beautiful. "Don't you think about it too?'" His eyes didn't leave her's. He was standing too close. There was something in his voice that was calm but yet not calm; he was evidently controlling himself… but the air around them was filled with tension.

Lacey, eyes wide, was frozen to the spot. It was both intense and scary and kind of romantic, but not appropriate. She had Archie… and Danny was in no way right for her… and please don't make her think about him like that. "Danny, I…" she looked away with a slight shake of her head.

"You don't feel the same way" Danny nodded his head as if he understood. But then he drew closer to her. Too close. And added "You and I both know that is not true."

Lacey was riveted. She couldn't look away; her mouth had gone completely dry. She did think about that kiss, she did. How could he know that? How could he know what she wouldn't even admit to herself? That maybe she was a little bit into him. She couldn't tell if he was genuinely into her. Was he? Or was this a ploy to change the topic? Or was he just trying to get close to her so he could use her to scale the walls of social popularity? Yeah, just date Lacey Porter and you too can be one of the in-crowd. She had no idea if she could trust him, and there were too many thoughts and questions and emotions fighting each other in her brain for even one of them to emerge with any sort of coherence.

Danny was still holding her gaze, waiting for a response, and for one tiny moment (a nanosecond really) she almost wondered if she should quell all the doubts and the logic and the questions… free herself to simply say "yes". Instead, she lowered her eyelids and brushed past him as she walked rapidly towards the library doors.


End file.
